11 Tips to Enhance Your Online Fundraising Strategy

In the digital age, online charity fundraising has become an indispensable tool for organisations and individuals to champion causes they are passionate about. Capitalising on the vast reach of the internet empowers charities to connect with a wider audience and increase their impact. To optimise the potential of your online charity fundraising initiatives, it's crucial to consider the best practices that can ensure you engage donors effectively.

In this article, we'll delve into 11 top strategies to supercharge your charity fundraising online:

1. Integrating White Label Fundraising Platforms

Your online fundraising strategy cannot reach its full potential without a well-performing, fundraising platform, even more so a white-label fundraising platform. These tools offer a turnkey solution for charities, enabling them to create a customised, branded online fundraising experience. This will help you maximise conversion rates and retain donors since a white-label solution allows charities to brand and customise the software or service as their own, fostering a sense of trust and consistency among donors and supporters, while maintaining a professional and cohesive image.

2. Optimise the user experience (UX) of your website and donation forms

You've rolled out a creative appeal for donations and broadcast it on all your channels? Good for you! Now, as this campaign directs your supporters to your website and donation form, it's vital that the user experience there is seamless. Making sure that your donors can navigate easily through your site, and more importantly, clearly find where to donate, is therefore a crucial element of successful online fundraising. 

Indeed, if your supporters find themselves on a website or donation form that isn't intuitive, there's a risk that they won't make the donation that is so precious to you.

To optimise your website, improve conversions, and raise more money, consider the following points:

• Is the "Donate" button adequately noticeable on your website's homepage? Consider relocating it to the top right-hand corner for increased visibility.
• How many clicks are required to make a donation?
• Are all the steps and information required to make a donation visible on a single page?
• Are any of the fields on your donation form unnecessary?
• Are there quick payment options you could offer that don't require users to squint at their credit card to enter their bank details?

The aim is to make the donation process as transparent and quick as possible for your visitors.

3. Drive maximum traffic to your website

Your website is the cornerstone of your fundraising strategy. Your website is where your supporters will learn about your cause, your history, your actions, and most importantly, where your online donation form is!

For any non-profit organisation, generating traffic to its website is essential. More traffic means more visitors, more contributors and therefore more potential donations online!

To drive maximum traffic to your site, follow these tips:

• Use your analytics data to track the performance of your content strategy.

• Create interesting and varied content, from blog posts to infographics.

• Distribute your content strategically and effectively on your own channels

• Optimise your website's SEO to improve your online visibility. You can analyse your site's keyword traffic to determine where your visitors are coming from. Identifying keywords is simple, and can be done in Google Search Console.

If you'd like to learn more about this subject, read our article: 5 tips to drive traffic to your website.

4. Use Captivating Storytelling

At the core of any successful charity fundraising campaign lies a compelling narrative. When people feel a personal connection to your cause, they are more likely to donate to your campaign. 

Did you know that the average attention span on the Internet is 8 seconds? This means that when communicating your story online, it's essential to be clear, concise and punchy.

It's vital to grab your audience's attention in a matter of seconds to stop them scrolling past you. Ask yourself, is the thumbnail, headline, first 2-3 seconds of footage or first line of text going to grab attention? 

If you want to delve further into the Art of Storytelling for charities, read our article with some top tips to get it right.

5. Harness the Power of Social Media 

Social media platforms are potent tools for online charity fundraising. Sharing engaging content on platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TitTok, LinkedIn, or Facebook can effectively reach a large audience. To be effective, adapt content for each platform, use relevant hashtags, and encourage supporters to share your content with others.

6. Foster Donor Engagement 

Interacting with your supporters online is essential to running successful online fundraising initiatives, and building relationships. Online, people expect fast response times so you should aim to respond promptly to comments, messages, and emails. 

Where possible utilise email automation tools to provide donors with immediate confirmation and thanks when they make a donation or register for a peer to peer fundraising event. 

Provide regular updates on your campaign's progress, and better still, utilise realtime tools like progress bars, donation tickers and social walls on your fundraising pages.

7. Think Mobile First

Having mobile-friendly campaign pages is essential. In the era of smartphones, it is imperative that your charity's website, donation pages and content are mobile-friendly. 

Did you know that in 2022, 48% of one-off donations were made on a mobile device (mobile and tablet)*? In addition to the donation process, the majority of your supporters will access your content through their mobile devices. So intuitive, mobile-optimised landing pages and donation forms are essential. 

To really maximise donations you should also ensure you accept mobile optimised payments like Google Pay and Apple Pay, to efficiently capture their donations.

Read this article to find out more on how to optimise your mobile fundraising strategy!

*source: iRaiser Benchmark 2022 vs 2021

8. Craft Effective Email Campaigns

Email campaigns can really maximise your online charity fundraising. Cultivate an email list of supporters and send regular emails about your charity's activities and upcoming campaigns. 

As a general rule: use personalisation tags and include only 1 piece of content and 1 call to action per email. This is the most effective way to ensure you maximise the effectiveness of your emails. You can urge recipients to take action, by making a donation, sharing your message or registering for an event. 

Whatever action you ask your recipients to make, you should ensure it can be done, quickly, easily and most importantly, on mobile. 

9. Embrace Virtual Events

Integrate virtual events into your online fundraising strategy. Webinars, virtual challenges, or live streaming on platforms like YouTube or InstagramFacebook enable you to engage a wider audience than in-person events. These events provide a platform for interaction, storytelling, and action. If you utilise virtual events and effectively engage participants online, thoseparticipants will help elevate your cause offline with their friends and family, and in their local communities too.

Check out this example from WWF, which hosted a virtual Yoga class called “Yoga for Nature” that their supporters could access by making a donation to their cause.

10. Champion Transparency

Donors desire transparency, wanting to understand where their contributions are allocated and how they make an impact. Transparency builds trust and cultivates ongoing support from donors.

Consider using a Gift Grid with equivalences or donation amounts to demonstrate tangible ways donations will be used to support your charity. You can add reassuring texts to your donation forms to explain or show where the donations are used. Check out this example by Shelter UK.

Real time tools can also really enhance transparency. Use infographics on landing pages, social media, and email campaigns to share important facts and figures. 

You can make a newsletter or report to show how donations are making a difference, with progress updates and testimonials.

11. Harness the Power of Video

Video content holds immense engagement potential and shareability. Produce captivating videos that showcase your charity's initiatives, share success stories, and make a direct appeal for donations. Videos are more likely to be shared on social media, enhancing your campaign's visibility. But also video can be an effective way of grabbing the attention of your audience on a landing page. 

Discover this example of the "24h Saint Pierre - Osons pour les enfants" solidarity event organised by the Fondation Saint-Pierre, to raise funds for children.

Online charity fundraising is a dynamic and evolving realm that demands innovation, commitment, and strategic thinking. By following these 11 tips, you can greatly improve your fundraising efforts for your organisation. With the right approach, you can harness the power of the online world to drive meaningful change and reach your fundraising goals.

Would you like to find out more about how to maximise the conversion rates of your donation form? Read our article: 5 simple ways to optimise your donation form!